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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here struc on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calv Cosponsors Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

We have a generation of people today that do not have any clue what responsibility is. We’re supposed to teach and educate children to respond according to their ability. So, as they’re learning, we’re teaching them things so that they can respond correctly. And we want people to respond to whatever happens in life, the circumstances according to the Word of God. So, not everybody has the same ability. You can have everybody in this audience right now, get out here and try to run a race.

You’re not all going to run the same speed. I guarantee you. We could have everybody get down and do push-ups. God forbid. But you’re not all going to do the same amount of push-ups because you don’t have the same ability or you haven’t developed an ability at all. But there’s things in life that we are supposed to be able to cope with. So we teach the Word of God so that regardless of the pressures were under, regardless of the trials and tribulations, that there is a way to respond.

Sometimes we can, we measure up and sometimes we don’t. I remember a year ago a man by the name of Gene Getz wrote a book on the measure of a man. Have you anybody ever heard of that book? The measure of a man. Have you heard of it already? Oh, it’s a textbook. I don’t like above. But tell you a little bit about what a man supposed to be like. I mean what kind of a man is a man.

And we’ve got a lot of wince today, a lot of sissies. And I believe a man ought to be a man and take a strong stand and know what he believes and stand for it. But anyway, let me give this to you. Our nation’s glorification of violence and sex are symptoms of a fundamental breakdown in America’s cultural foundation. I believe you would believe that. The unconscionable proliferation of murder through taxpayer supported abortion is a sign that too many in this nation no longer even have a basic respect for the right of a human to be born.

You know, at first that was a shock to the American society and it’s not a shock anymore. We used to be shocked by the things that we saw. When I saw my first miniskirt, I liked a wreck. I was downtown Miami. I was driving with Bo Bryan and we had either gone to a rescue mission or the jail service and I was driving down the street and Bo Bryan says, look! And I looked and liked a wreck. And it was a shock, but as time goes on lawy not quite a shock because it wears on.

You’re not going to have to. It’s acceptable. Andreenshots of the fact that the people who started accepting the fact of either living together or homosexuality, it’s a shock. That’s a wicked. How could anybody ever come close to thinking this is acceptable?colm, it’s not acceptable. But isn’t it a shame that so many of Americans believe that it is? And after a while, it’s all just the right to their own lifestyle. Well as long as it doesn’t bother me, oh I’m sure you’ll understand that whenever it says about a man named Lot, he vexed his righteous soul from day to day because of what he saw and heard.

It vexed his righteous soul. And so, yes, it does take its toll, and it wears you down. So, after a while, everything is fine. Everything is cool. Well… Not according to the Bible, but you look there in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 and look in verse 38, verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now it is the will of God that every child of God live by faith, but if he doesn’t, he still saved, but God is not pleased with it.

And so I believe that God is not pleased with a lot of his children because they haven’t developed in them that element of faith of just believing what God says. We’re so impressed by the world and the world has made an impact upon us and we’re being conformed to the world because the world is the pressure from the outside conforms us. God says He wants it to be transformed by the power that’s on the inside. And that’s when you trust the Christ is saved, the Holy Spirit lives within you, and you renew your mind so you think differently than the world.

So it’s the Word of God that should transform our life. Now, that didn’t happen that day you got saved. You trusted Christ, it gave you eternal life, it gave you divine life. But as you read and studied the Word of God, then your life becomes transformed and not until. Now, the statement I wanted to read to you, and that is with the redefinition of marriage. Now who is the one that defined what marriage was originally? God did in the Word of God.

And so he made the manning and made a woman. He brought them together and blah, too, shall become one flesh. And what God has joined together, let not man put a sundur. So marriage is not to be defined by government. God already has. And he’s the one that says what it is and what it is not. And therefore that is the position that we take, because we take the position of what does God say. It doesn’t matter what the vote is.

It doesn’t matter what the legislature says, or, you know, Washington or Congress, or even if the power of Obama’s pin makes it right. It’s not right, it’s still wrong. Another statement, this time honored union between a man and a woman is now being bastardized in an effort to legitimize relationships traditionally recognized as immoral. Our society has effectively relegated the concept married couple rearing children as a unit with unwed mothers outnumbering their married counterparts in many communities. Isn’t it a shame when there’s more people living together than are married?

Is there something wrong with that? Is it right or is it wrong? It’s wrong. At least out of all the places on the planet there’ll be one little church that says, hey it’s wrong. A lot of people might not think it’s wrong. Sex outside of marriage is wrong. Always do right. As many of the humanist crowd argues the contrary, America relies on its citizens’ faith in God to maintain our unparalleled level of freedom and opportunity. According to a recent poll conducted by NBC and Wall Street Journal, however, America’s level of faith has dropped precipitiously in recent years.

In other words, the percentage is going down about your Christian faith or your religious faith. Is it really what you use to determine your decisions? Or it doesn’t matter at all. Well more than one in five respondents revealed that religion plays not that important a role in their lives. Now as we, who no Christ is saved as we read and study the Bible, is the Bible supposed to take a major role or a priority role, a permanent role in our decision making.

Should the Word of God decide what we accept is right and wrong? And the world doesn’t believe that. Now we have some beliefs and I don’t think the beliefs that we have in the Word of God are strange. I believe it’s very reasonable and sensible. Remember, a lot it wasn’t on to people who are not raised today to accept responsibility for their actions. So one way to do away with responsibility is to do away with God. You see, if there is no God, I’m not responsible to Him.

And if He’s not real and it’s not truth, then the Bible isn’t true, so the Bible cannot be my criteria. It cannot be the determining factor in my life or why I do what I do. So you see, I’m not responsible to God, I’m not responsible to the teachings of the Bible. Therefore, who am I responsible to? So it’s whatever we decide. And so we is democracy which leads to democracy. And it’s the majority will of the people without a constitution that supports and defends even one minority, even one person.

So we have a total breakdown in our society today because of no responsibility. Why are people living together without marriage? No responsibility. She’s not responsible to stay true. He’s not responsible to stay true. He’s not responsible legally and she’s not. It’s just a nice way to live. And if it don’t work out, well, try another. That don’t work. Try another. And I don’t believe that this is honoring to God. It is a total breakdown of our society. Why do people having sex together?

there’s no responsibility. Why? Because if she gets pregnant, there’s no responsibility to have the child. There’s no responsibility to raise a child. You can have an abortion. Why? Because I’m not responsible. It’s not my responsibility. So he doesn’t accept responsibility. She doesn’t respect responsibility. And so you have a total breakdown because living by faith, the just shall live by faith. We can’t so much control the world but wouldn’t it be wonderful if God’s people, at least God’s people, live by the Bible and the truths that are found in God’s Word.

You may stick out like a sore thumb and I get emails once in a while where people don’t always agree with my position. I don’t why I’m such a nice, level-able guy. And so you have all these things, no responsibility. With younger generations increasingly shunning religion, one might predict the issue will be even more pronounced as they raised children in godless households. Just think about that. How many children there are in America and how many are raised in a godless household?

Are those parents raising their children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord? So thank the Lord that there are some parents who love the Lord enough that said high standard for the children and because they said high standards for the children maybe their children will be able to make wiser decisions because see it’s about them them and God, them and God, them and God. And you want to teach a person how to walk with the Lord after they trust the Christ.

Walk with the Lord. Learn how to stand on what God’s Word has to say. And so furthermore, reduced influence among faith-based charities could feasibly lead more Americans to believe that the federal government is best equipped to provide for the needs of its subjects. So many people, instead of taking responsibility for these the education of their children, or happy enough just to put them on a bus taken to a school where they’re taught by humanistic philosophers, humanist educators, without the character, without the morality, without the biblical training of the Word of God, and have them for seven, eight hours a day, five days a week, and then wonder why their children are so baddest.

I don’t know. And realize that those same children are going on one day vote. Isn’t that scary? I’ve said this before. Obama doesn’t bother me. It’s the 51% of the nuts that put him there. You see, you can change him, but what about the philosophy of the people that think this way. Government is the answer. And you and I are supposed to believe that Jesus is the answer. The Word of God is the answer. This is what people need.

What does the Word of God have to say? And so important. Anyway, I thought I would just share that little tidbit with you. I got more than I can handle, of course, always that away. Now you know in the book of James it makes the statement That, well, faith without works is dead. Doesn’t it say that somewhere in the book of James? I often have, if that’s the only verse that lost people know, that’s the verse. That’s their favorite verse.

And all the religions of the world, that’s their favorite verse in the Bible. Haven’t you ever heard? And then whenever they tell you that their works are proof that they’re not. If that’s supposed to prove that you’re saved by their works, I would say you’re not. not. They don’t keep it themselves because if you look at their works and the things that they say and do and they may boil it down to just a few little things that they do.

But what about the arrogance that cockiness, that mean spirit, that critical spirit? I mean where they’re jealous and envious and bitter and hate and all that because it comes through. There’s a lot of people like that. I’m better than you because I go to church and they look down their long, fairs of your little nose and they think they’re like Kellogg’s cornflakes just a little bit better. Don’t remember that commercial years ago. Cornflakes just a little bit better. will.

But anyway, turning the book of Joshua to the book of Joshua. Way back there in the Old Testament, the book of Joshua in chapter 3. Just to kind of give you an idea of what it means by living by faith, walking by faith. The Lord told him, he says, now you’re going to have to go into the land and of course you’ve got a little place called Jericho over there with a little low wall around it. Nothing serious, but the Lord says, now if you do what I tell you to do, peace of gay.

And so He says there in verse 11, Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan. So the priests are going to carry this thing across the water into Jordan. And all the people got to do is follow cross on dry ground. But this was the time of the year when the water was pretty high. So he says there in verse 12, Now therefore take you 12 men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every men of tribe.

And it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priest that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above and they shall stand upon a heap. As soon as the souls of their feet hit the water, how would you like to go first? Faith! And here you are, as soon as your foot hits the water, it’s going to dry up and it’s going to part and you’re going to step on dry ground.

As soon as your foot hits the water, it didn’t say the waters is gone first. Then he stops at first. This isn’t with Moses back there at the Red Sea. See, as time goes, God may be a little bit more confident from you. You shouldn’t believe him because look how great God has been for me. What should make it so hard and difficult to live by faith, to walk with the Lord. And look at this, I love it. So he said in verse 14, and it came to pass when the people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan and the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people and as they that bear the Ark would come unto Jordan and the feet of the priests that bear the Ark were dipped into the brim of the water.

For Jordan overflow of all his banks, all the time of harvest. You want to go first, right? And as soon as, and he got to step down over the bank, How deep was that water? Three feet high and rising. The flood stage, faith. God told him what to do. Now in the times in which we live, sometimes it seems a little difficult for us to trust the Lord that much. I remember when I was trying to make up my mind about going to Bible college.

Just going to Tennessee Temple was enough. But when I decided to go to Florida Bible college in 1964, All right, bye. Well, the wife and two kids said, I only had enough money to get to Orlando, Florida. Now, here’s a man with his wife and kids and everything we owned in this big old car. And we’re booying down the expressway because a hurricane is on its way. And it was a killer storm and we’re on our way. And I’m going as fast as that little car would ride.

And I was trying to beat that hurricane coming in. And I got to Orlando, Florida, and I didn’t have any money. I run out of gas. My brother loaned me $40 to make it the rest of the way. He says, I never paid him back, but I did. I know that. He just jumped off. Now, faith is believing that that’s what God wants, and you step out, and you don’t see how God’s going to meet your needs. If you try to figure out everything in advance, and see clearly, then where’s the faith?

Faith is believing that what God wants, you believe it and you step out. Now, how strong is your faith? You see, if you can see it, then it doesn’t require faith because you can see. And if you can see it, we walk by faith not by what? Sight. Sight means I can see, but sometimes you can’t see. I’ve made a lot of decisions over my life and I can say that not all of them have been there’s a thin line between faith and foolishness.

And sometimes I get a little mixed up here and there. But you know, even when you make the wrong decision that if you really want to walk with God, God can let you see that, hey, that wasn’t the smartest decision you ever made in your life and you can correct it. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to correct a problem? You can correct problems. Now there’s some things that you can do and you can’t correct it, you know, like Mary in the Wrong Woman.

You know, once you’ve done it, it might be for the rest of your natural born life. And I’ve had people’s, you know, the kind of thing to have. I said, well, all you gotta do is pray that God take her home. Then you’ll be free. He said, I can’t do that. I know. You’re to be a blessing and to love and to see each other through and all these things. That’s another term. We’ll get on that one another time.

But here in the book of Joshua, isn’t that a good verse on faith? To take that first step it’s always that first step. It’s like going soul winning Afterwards, it’s pretty easy. It’s just that first person you got to talk to the opening up of that conversation That’s sometimes a little bit the difficult look at in chapter 6 chapter 6 chapter 6 and look at verse 5 Now, you know, he had a plan God had a plan Now Joshua did not have a plan on how he was going to you know conquer Jericho but God had a plan and he says this is what you’re going to do.

You see they’re in verse 2 and he says and the Lord said unto Joshua see I have given thee into thy hand Jericho and the King thereof and the mighty men of valor I have given that’s past tense but they haven’t even marched around it yet because see God sees things as sometimes this is already done because God knows what he’s going to do. God is faithful. The Bible says God will keep his word. So he tells Joshua here’s what I want you to do.

Now this really sounds you know off the charts. I mean it sounds like you got to be kidding me. Sometimes in the Christian life there’s some things that just you know with some people that you got to be kidding me. You’re gonna do what? I’ve had people decide to go to Bible call it, you mean throw away your life? Where you gonna go to Bible? How are you gonna be a Bible? What you want to learn the word of God so you’ll know how to live.

That’s more important than making a living. A lot of people know how to make money but they don’t know how to live. But he says here in verse 3, and you shall compass the city all ye men of war and go round about the city once thou shalt do that six times in verse 4 and seven priests shall bear before the art seven trumpets of ramshorn and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times and then they’re going to blow the trumpet.

And look in verse 5 and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ramshorn and when you hear the sound of the trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.” And Joshua said, right. Well, he did what God says to do, even though it sounds so ridiculous. I mean, these walls are just going to fall down.

Okay. So you find out that, well, what happened? Look there in verse 10. And as he’s telling him the story, in Joshua had commanded the people to say, now ye shall not shout, nor may any noise with your voice. So there’s things to do, there’s some things not to do. Now the purpose of it, no noise, and on the last day, no noise. I don’t know. I don’t even want to speculate, try to figure it out. All I know is that God says, this is what you do and it worked.

So they were told some things not to do. Now in the Christian life, there’s things that God may tell you not to do. But everything he tells you not to do is because it has no purpose or part in the plan of God for you. You see, you have a new birth and and over. Some things will affect you the flesh and some things the Spirit. So you try to decide and discern to make the right decision based upon does it cause my old man to get stronger or my new man to get stronger.

Which one do I want to be the strongest? So then I can discern that will not help me spiritually and that will. So it helps you to make a wiser decision. So he makes a statement, you shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shall then shall you shall. There’s a time to shout and there’s a time to shut up and you do not apply that to your wife.

Don’t do that. Don’t misapply this verse. Now look down there in verse 16, verse 16, and it came to pass at the seventh time when the priest blew with the trumpets Joshua said unto the people shout for the Lord and hear that word hath given. It ain’t done yet. half-given. That’s faith. We’re going to do this. It’s going to work. We believe and we’re going to do what God says do and God going to do this. Believing that. But isn’t that confidence?

Now how is your faith today? How is your faith doing? What, um, Where do you get faith anyway? Walmart. Public, can you go in and buy some? I need a little bit more faith. So where do you get faith? From the Word of God. Oh yeah that’s easy to say but where does it say that? Is that anywhere in the Bible? Faith coming by what? Hearing and hearing by the… So if you want your faith to be strong you have to be strong in the Word.

If you’re not strong in the Word you’re not going to have strong faith. That’s why the more you read the Word of God and study the Word of God the stronger you’re going to be because of this. Hello this is Peter Amato with Bibleline and we hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We’re so thankful your support of Bibleline and we would like to offer you a free gift. During this month for a gift in any amount we’re going to send you Dr.

Arnold’s teaching series on the book of Colossians. Paul writes to a concerned pastor about false teachings that are entering his church, some were teaching that one could find additional and greater knowledge outside of Jesus Christ, which is not true. Paul teaches that Christ is the head and we are complete in him. This teaching series is certain to help you in your spiritual growth, so So email, call or write to us today to receive your CD series on the Book of Colossians.

Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. God bless you and thank you again for supporting Bible Un. Thanks for joining us on Bible Un. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed.

Taught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.